


Invisible Heart 1/?

by calie15



Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe, Developing Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2014-06-30
Packaged: 2018-02-06 19:54:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1870329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calie15/pseuds/calie15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's invisible, a ghost, untraceable...but he sees her. AU</p><p>(This story will probably not be finished.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> After posting the prologue I decided I should clarify how AU this story is or else it will take you chapters to realize the differences. Oliver never did go to Metropolis. So there has never been any communication between he and Clark and Chloe. Tess, while she has much of the same attitude, her motives and actions aren't usually questionable, so she is trustworthy.  The last time Lex was seen was at the Fortress of Solitude, so that part is consistent with the show. There are a few other things but they will be revealed as the story goes on. I know it is a bit slow right now, but come the next chapter is should start picking up more.

Chloe sighed as she walked into her father’s room. Things had changed since she had moved out, but over all, her childhood home had remained the same. Even the smells were the same. Worst of all was her father’s room, she could smell him everywhere.

As she walked across the hardwood floor she spied the closet with trepidation. This wasn’t new to Chloe. She knew the hardest parts. The memorabilia, the keepsakes, the pictures, and the clothes. They were the hardest.

When she reached for the closet she steeled herself against any emotion. The last thing she needed was to get upset. When she was back home, in her own privacy that was one thing, but she had a job to do now, and getting upset would only prolong that..

Turning the knob she pulled the doors open roughly and sighed, almost in relief at taking the first step.

“Mourning doesn’t give you the reason to be oblivious.”

Chloe gasped, knowing the voice, but still jumping and spinning around in surprise. At the site of the intruder she frowned and turned away from her. “You aren’t welcome in here.”

“I assumed you would say something like that.” Tess crossed the floor, heals breaking the silence, and sat on the edge of the bed.

“And rightfully so. My dealings with you are what caused this to happen.”

“You don’t know that.”

Chloe stopped as she reached up for a familiar shirt, a blue polo that she had seen her father wear often, and spun around. “Don’t try to appease my feelings Tess,” Chloe bit out nastily, almost grateful for the anger to shield her from her other emotions. “It was my dealings with you that made this happen. I don’t care what the police say, it wasn’t an accident.” Tess’ only response was a raised eyebrow. With a roll of her eyes Chloe turned around. The last thing she expected from Tess was remorse or concern.

“Perhaps.” Tess relented. “Your father was an unfortunate bystander, but we both knew if we had done nothing many more would have died.”

The truth hurt, but Chloe had learned a long time ago that sometimes you had to make the hard decisions. Of course when she thought of the consequences never once had they been Jimmy...her father...”What do you want?”

Tess smirked at Chloe’s pointed question. “I could be offering my support.”

“But your not.”

“No...I’m not.”

At that Chloe turned around. There was almost a solemn tone in Tess’ voice, and whatever it was that concerned Tess involved Chloe. “What?”

“I have a proposal.” Tess paused, noting the way Chloe suddenly hardened. “I know what you said, that you were out. But we both no you aren’t, you’ll never be out of it, none of us will. You can run and hide, but it will always be part of you and at some point you’ll get sucked back in. Because we aren’t normal. We’ve seen to much and done to much to be normal.”

“Way to make me feel better.” With a roll of her eyes Chloe spun around to the closet and began pulling out clothes, folding them neatly and placing them on the chair.

“I’m not here for that. That’s Clark and Lois’ job. But I can do something better, and that’s to be brutally honest with you, because you need it. You cannot get out. It’s just a fact. And even if you could, you know too much, people are still in danger. Your mother, who’s locked away in her own silent world, with no clue of what you are doing or what happened to your father, is in danger.” Standing up, and bracing for Chloe’s anger, Tess continued. “Let’s be honest here. You have nothing left. You lost your husband and your father to this life.”

With a sneer to hide the pang of hurt Chloe spun around. “Is that your form of therapy Mercer? Cruelty?”

“I’m cutting to the chase, you need to hear this even if you don’t want to. Your life here is over, it’s time to start a knew one.”

The pair of slacks in her hand were thrown to the floor, forgotten. “If I wanted to start a new life I’d do it. I don’t need you to change my identity, I am more then capable.”

“You don’t need a new identity, you shouldn’t have one at all.”

For the moment, Chloe was caught off guard, surprised at Tess’ words. “What?”

“Disappear, and I don’t mean into another life, I mean entirely. No job, no fake names, no history, no connections. Cut yourself off. Erase Chloe Sullivan.”

“You,” Chloe pointed a finger and nodded, “are nuts. Get out.”

“No, I’m logical. You’re in too deep, you know everything. You are our most important asset. People like Clark and AC they hide themselves with costumes, you have none. Your face, your name, your family, it’s out there for everyone to see. The only way to keep yourself hidden, safe, is to disappear, become a ghost.”

“Do you even know what you are asking?” The problem was, Chloe knew Tess, and as crazy as the idea was, and as crazy as Tess could be sometimes, she was always meticulous, paying attention to every detail. So if Tess came to this conclusion, it was because it was well thought out. That didn’t necessarily mean it was the right decision by any means. The problem was, Chloe must have been off her rocker a little bit herself, because she was actually considering it. She’d always been ready to go the extra mile to save the world, protect her teammates, sometimes even risking her own humanity. So to say that Chloe might give everything wasn’t much of a stretch. And as much as she hated to admit it, she had nothing now. Nothing to hold her back from getting in even deeper. It hadn’t been Chloe’s wish to get out of it all, in fact, she was going to keep on going, having more of a reason now to fight the good fight, take the bad guys down. But Tess was right, now Chloe had nothing left, nothing of her personal life outside the team, outside saving the world. She had nothing to lose.

Hook, line, and sinker. The fact that Tess could see Chloe contemplating it she knew she had won. “They won’t stop. The deeper you go, the more you know, the more they will seek you out. I know how you operate Chloe, on a need to know basis, protecting those around you. Because if they don’t know, then maybe they won’t get hurt. But you...they’ll be after you. Capture you, and it’s game over.” Tess stepped forward, narrowing her eyes, suddenly feeling much more patient about her speech then she had intended. “From now on you have the ability to save hundreds, thousands of people. I’ll do what I can, money, resources, whatever it is you need. But,” Tess paused for the first time, guilt creeping up, “Chloe Sullivan is gone. It would be like you never existed.”

“Tess...” Chloe started, ready to tell her that the idea was crazy.

“You always said you’d give your life to save the world,” Tess said bluntly. “It’s up to you. Is Chloe Sullivan going to die to save the world?”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloe felt the wind in her hair and smiled as she turned around. “What are you doing here?”

Clark frowned. “You know what I’m doing here.”

“We’ve talked about this.” Chloe turned away from him and meandered through her new Tower, looking around for anything that needed her attention, anything to take her mind off of Clark and his reasoning.

“And it doesn’t feel like we’ve talked enough.”

“Seriously Clark,” Chloe turned with a sigh, “we’ve talked multiple times. I’ve told you my reasons. This is it for me. No life is a new life. I’m doing what I love to do. So yea, I’ll be getting around by multiple aliases and having no real friends or relationships like you pointed out, but that hasn’t worked out so well for me. And I’m not giving up on it all. You want to think I’m hiding, trying to bury myself in work, disappear, but that isn’t it. I’m doing it because it’s right.” She closed the distance between them that she had just moment a ago tried to create. “I’m doing it because I’ve lost people that I loved to those evil bastards.” With a sigh she relaxed, allowed the tension on her face to ease away and her voice to soften. “And maybe one day I’ll decide it’s been enough, maybe one day I’ll want to be me again. But right now there are things I need to do Clark. I’m not giving up, I swear to you. I know who I am. But just as much as I’m your ally, your greatest asset as Tess puts it, I’m also your greatest weakness Clark. If I’m caught,” Chloe shook her head, eyes pained, “there are more people at risk than I care to think about.” With a soft smile she took two steps and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close. “Trust me Clark.”

He sighed, closing his eyes, and burying his face into her neck. For some reason it felt like losing her, even if he was one of the only people that weren’t. “Okay.” Moments later they pulled apart and he stepped back, inhaling deeply, trying to shift away from the loving best friend, Clark Kent, and into Superman. “Days Chloe, it will take days.”

“I know.” Chloe nodded.

“Which means you stay here. Have no contact with anyone.” She nodded. They’d already been over it, but he felt the need to remind her. “When it’s done, I’ll come straight here.”

Chloe nodded and when he smiled, something that she assumed was to reassure her, she smiled back, trying to offer him the same comfort. And then he was gone, already flying to the Fortress of Solitude. Chloe could erase her identity on the Internet. Medical records, school history...but memories, no, that was something else entirely. Only alien technology could do that. Watchtower did its part in the sacrifice of Chloe Sullivan, now it was the Fortress of Solitude’s turn.

In a matter of days, Chloe Sullivan wouldn’t be dead; she simply wouldn’t exist. And the woman standing in the confines of the digital fortress would use her anonymity to help any hero in need.

With a sigh she walked towards the colorful glass window, peering out of it with a small bit of regret. The rest of the world seemed closed off to her suddenly. For a moment she felt alone, within her tower, looking out over the city, cut off from anyone and everyone. Then just as soon as the feeling came over her she lifted her head higher, eyes hardening with purpose. It wasn’t the end for her, just a new beginning. With that final thought she turned away from Metropolis and got back to work.


	2. Chapter 2

“And what about LuthorCorp, a merger-.”

Oliver slammed his hand down on the table, startling the other six people sitting around.  “The LuthorCorp merger was never on the table.”

“It would be an advantageous merger Mr. Queen, for both Queen Industries and Luthorcorp.”

Oliver frowned at the balding man. Accountants. “No. I’m flying out to Gotham on Thursday to discuss possible investments into Wayne Enterprises. I would have imagined, that alone would be enough to keep the shareholders from breathing down my neck. Queen Industries hasn’t done this well in over a decade. I’m not about to leave any of it under the control of Tess Mercer.” The name was said bitterly, and whether they picked up on it or not he didn’t care. The buzz of his phone drew his attention away from the six pairs of eyes staring at him. Opening the message his mood immediately shifted. “Gentleman, I think that’s all for today.”  With that, Oliver was standing, leaving no room for discussion, and out of the double doors, his assistant, Cynthia, standing and following behind him.

“I’ll be flying out this afternoon. Cancel any meetings for today, but don’t reschedule. I’ll e-mail you tonight with more details about my return.” His phone vibrated again and he lifted it, responding with a growl of annoyance and stopping mid stride.

“Mr. Queen?”

Oliver looked up at Cynthia, one well-manicured eyebrow cocked in question. “Jenson, one of the shareholders has been hounding me for days about Luthorcorp.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“You’re sure?” He question, unsure about throwing her to the wolves during his absence.

“Mr. Queen, I didn’t make it this far by letting stuffy old men walk all over me.” She responded, a small smile offered to him.

It was the truth. Cynthia was in her mid forties when Oliver hired her. Her qualifications were enough to make him take a second look, but it was her similarities to his mother that had made his decision. From the blond hair, to the tailored business suits, and the perfect make up. And much to his embarrassment she treated him like her own child, which included stonewalling anyone. Many of the men he dealt with were over bearing, willing to throw around their power and money to influence anyone, but it never made Cynthia falter and on most occasions she sent them on their way. By the time she was through with them, they were never sure whether it was their own decision to leave or Cynthia’s. “Of course.” Tucking his phone into his pocket he continued on and entered the elevator, Cynthia only steps behind him, stopping just outside the elevator doors. “But if he mentions speaking to Mercy on his own, you can tell him that I’ll be doing some of my own talking, and that is a threat.”

“Yes, sir.”

The doors shut, leaving him to the silence of the elevator. With a sigh he grabbed his phone again, pulled up the text from Victor and responded back with an affirmative. Oliver would be meeting them at the jet in an hour.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Damn it Bart! Stop it!” The younger man quickly stopped the unnatural fast pace of his bouncing knee and then mumbled something about jets and enclosed spaces.

“Bart may be in his twenties Ollie, but he’s a kid at heart.”

At the sound of the familiar voice he turned his head, meeting her smile and soft eyes. “And a pain in the ass.”

“I heard that!”

With a roll of his eyes he focused on Dinah again. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“You needed me, I came.”

His chest tightened at her statement. “You know I need you for more then just missions.” The feminine sigh that accompanied his statement was to be expected. “Dinah-.”

“Ollie, we talked about this.”

“No,” he swiveled in the conference chair to face her, “you did most of the talking. I know you said it would take time...”

“And it will,” she added solemnly.

Oliver groaned rubbing his face furiously before planting his elbows in his knees and burying his face into his hands. “Dinah...”

“I know you’re sorry. Maybe it wasn’t the right time for us at that moment. We both had too much going on, all our lives were in turmoil, yours more so. You were in a bad place. You know maybe if it had been before or after...but it wasn’t.” Dinah paused, recalling the pain at finding out his betrayal. Their relationship still had been so new, but he had destroyed it in moments when he revealed to her that in a drunken binge he had slept with another woman. “And I still care about you, more then any other man I’ve ever known. But even so, the pain is still there, and I’m not ready.

He sighed and lifted his head, meeting her sad eyes and wincing slightly. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

With that soft reply she stood and walked away from him, like she usually did when he tried talking to her. There were many regrets Oliver had, and ruining his relationship with Dinah was one of them.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, Oliver.”

He glanced up, startled out of his doze and glanced up at Victor. “What?”

“Your phone,” Victor gestured by nodded his head to seat adjoining Oliver’s

Glancing over to the empty seat he spotted his phone vibrating. Grasping it, he narrowed his eyes in confusion then shook his head and answered it. “I’m sure Cindy sent my regrets.”

“She did. But I really have no interest whatsoever in you attending my birthday party. I have other business with you.”

“Luthorcorp?”

“No.”

“The fact that the thought of having your name on the same page as mine with this new merger makes you cringe?”

“No.”

Oliver smirked, stretching his legs out in front of him and slumping in his chair. “You made it to the top ten worst dressed super heroes? I told you capes and ears were so fifty years ago.”

“No.”

At the irritation in in his voice Oliver chuckled. “Alright Brucey. Don’t get your panties in a twist. I’m shaking with anticipation over here. Can barely stay in my seat.”

“I was just letting you get the rest of the nonsense out of your system before we got down to business.”

“Well I’ve got more, but I’ll save it for next time.”

“How considerate of you. Where are you headed?”

Oliver frowned at his question. It wasn’t that Bruce didn’t know what Oliver did. In fact they had worked together as Batman and Green Arrow and a few rare occasions. The problem was they didn’t work well together, ever. “Syria.”

“Then you and I may be working on the same thing.”

Oliver resisted the urge to groan. “How do you know?”

“I do have resources that you aren’t aware of...that isn’t why I’m calling though.”

Regardless that Bruce knew Oliver’s movements when Oliver had no idea of his own, he was still intrigued. “Then what is it?” Victor walked up holding up two open hands and mouthing ‘ten minutes’. Oliver nodded and stood up; proceding to pack up is belongings.

“I was...intercepted.”

“Intercepted? You’ll have to be more specific. Were they ready for you?”

“Not the ‘they’ you would think. Someone else. Someone after the same thing I was. I was mere feet away from my target when I heard a struggle. By the time I arrived eight men were sprawled on the ground, all incapacitated. I caught site of my target and then it was gone, all I saw was a blur.”

“A blur?” Oliver stood up from sliding his laptop into his bag and drew his brow together in confusion.

“Yes. With my target gone, I instead focused on quickly trying to figure out what this blur was and what we were up against. I tried accessing the buildings security footage, but there was none. Only static. Someone cut it, and they didn’t do it on site. The strange thing is, it stops right before this blur enters the room. So this blur wasn’t working alone.”

Oliver frowned. This unknown blur could be after the same thing they were for honorable reasons, but if this person wasn’t.... “You think I’m going to run into the same thing.”

“I suspect.”

“So is this just a warning then?”

“Partially. But you have Bart don’t you?”

Now Oliver was starting to get the idea. “You think we should try to find out who this blur is?”

“If possible. I don’t like it.”

Neither did Oliver. “Thanks for the extra work.” Oliver clicked end and slipped his phone into his pocket.  



	3. Invisible Heart 2/?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's invisible, a ghost, untraceable...but he sees her. AU

_“Cyborg to Arrow.”_

“Cyborg, go ahead.

_“Arrow, someone’s trying to access our feed.”_

Oliver stopped at the corner of the building, the darkness hiding his form. Bruce said the video had been cut right before the blur made its entrance. It could have been timed, but it would have been much simpler if the unknown intruder had their own person in their ear, running the show as Victor did. “Let them.”

 _“What?!”_  
  
“Let them, and start checking for any other feeds in the area. I have a feeling our unknown intruder communicates with someone just the way we do. Let me know when they break through.”

_“Affirmative. Cyborg out.”_

“Canary, Impulse, Speedy. Keep the conversations brief. We’re going to have some company.” Their affirmatives came through his ear again, and then he was moving, scaling the wall. With the alarm cut, opening the window was easy, and gave way with little trouble. “I’m in.” Maneuvering over the windowsill he crouched low, surveying what appeared to be a rather lavish bedroom.  
 _  
“Cyborg to Arrow.”_

“Go ahead.”

“Our new friend worked through my firewalls quicker then I thought. You’ve got ten seconds.”

“Affirmative. Everyone else, let’s get moving. Check everything. Arrow out.” Oliver counted ten seconds from his last word, knowing it was sufficient time from when he last spoke to Victor. “I know your there.”

Silence, he expected as much. Moving through the darkened room he started at the desk. “You’re pretty good from what I hear. Didn’t take you very long at all. Sounds like I need some well-deserved hardware and software upgrades. Must be out of date.”

Finding the desk empty he moved to the wall, eyes narrowing at the pictures there, his glasses looking for any abnormalities in the wall. “You did a number on poor old Batman, shook his confidence a bit. That doesn’t happen very often. So you must be good, you and this Blur you have working for you.”

The walls were clean, with a frown he moved to the closet, but quickly found it to be empty of anything useful. Of course he got the spare room. The knob to the bedroom turned easily and he exited the spare bedroom into a darkened hallway.

“Why so quite? Scared?”      
                                         
 _“Scared? Are you going to call me chicken next?”_

Oliver stopped in his tracks. It wasn’t the fact that this unknown person had responded, or the humor in the voice; it was the voice itself, a female voice, a rather attractive sounding one at that. “Well it got a response, didn’t it?”

_“I couldn’t help myself. Your conversation skills are astounding.”_

At the tone of her voice he knew without a doubt that the woman on the other end had rolled her eyes.

“So am I right? You did try to put Batman out of his favorite past time?”  
 _  
“If you mean I saved him a few bruises at the hands of those petty criminals, then yes.”_

He rolled her words over in his head a few times as he entered another room and frowned. Bathroom. So he knew it was one of two things. Either she didn’t like criminals, or she thought herself a much better criminal. “Well there aren’t any criminals hanging out here tonight, just me.”

_“Really? Just you?”_

The humor in her voice was obvious, she knew for a fact that it wasn’t just him. “Scouts honor.”  
 _  
“Hmm. The Green Arrow and his honor? I don’t know...A while back I seem to remember a few antiquities going missing, a few men with bad plans finding their way into the hospital roughed up. Started out as kind of the anti-hero don’t you think?”_

“We all have our off days.” He grumbled sourly and turned the corner. “But what about you. I know so little about you, it hardly seems fair.”  
 _  
“Which puts me in a much better position don’t you think?”_

“Perhaps. And what about this other friend you have, sweetheart? The one who took care of the eight petty criminals as you called them and disappeared with the mysterious safe?”  Trying another door he had to withhold a sigh of relief as he found the office.

_“Sweetheart? I don’t think I’m the type of girl to give up her secrets with a little bit of sweet talk.”_

“Oh trust me, I can sweet talk anyone.” He stopped at a set of filing cabinets and scrunched his face when the words left his mouth. What the hell was he doing? In the middle of a damn mission he was flirting with a voice, that had hacked into his feed and could possibly be a criminal. He needed to get out more.

_“Not this time.”_

She sounded so sure. Give him two minutes with her face-to-face and-. Oliver quickly shook his head and pulled open the filing cabinet. He didn’t just need to get out.  He needed to get laid. “So what about your friend? Not so lucky this time?” She laughed and involuntarily his mind tried to put a face with the laugh, tried to imagine what she would look like…

_“Sorry sweetheart. It isn’t luck.”_

Oliver couldn’t resist grinning at her use of the word ‘sweetheart’. “He is fast isn’t he?”

_“He is.”_

“I guess we’ll have to find out how fast he is then.” Nothing in the drawers. The whole mission was getting ridiculous and he was beginning to wonder if it had even been worth it. But she was there, listening in for some reason, even if he didn’t know why.

_“Oh? You mean in comparison with your friend? Impulse?”_

Oliver stilled in his walk to the desk.

_“If my calculations are correct Impulse is faster, but there are some places he just can’t go.”_

“Confidence is pretty tricky,” Oliver said carefully. “It makes people trip up, reveal too much.” There was a pause, and for a moment he thought she had put a halt to their conversation.

_“Perhaps, but finding out his identity will do you very little.”_

“And yours?” She laughed again, but this time he caught something darker behind it.

_“Trust me, you won’t find me. You can’t trace something that doesn’t exist.”_

Stopping again in his search he considered her words, trying to make sense of them, but having little success. She was confident, that was for sure, but she was smart also. Which led him to believe she wouldn’t have been confident in her anonymity unless she had a very strong reason to be so. With what he knew so far he’d tried to find her identity, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he would turn up with nothing.  
 _  
“Besides, your not the one I’m after and you’re not the bad guy. For all intents and purposes we are on the same team.”_

“And what are you?” Oliver asked, wondering if she would even answer.  
 _  
“I’m not the bad guy either.”_

“How do I know that?”  
 __  
“You’ll just have to trust me.”  
  
Trust a strange voice that hacked into his earpiece...he wasn’t so sure about that. The door swung open, followed by a red blur that suddenly took the shape of Bart.

“What the hell are you doing?” Bart whispered, having heard, like the rest of the team, the verbal sparring Oliver was going at with the strange hacker.

Oliver waved Bart off. “My trust is usually earned. And hacking into our comms and snatching what we’re looking for right from under our noses us doesn’t exactly leave me with a feeling I would describe as trust. On top of the fact that you know much more about me then I know about you.”

_“We all have our disguises. And you’re right; you have every reason to distrust me, but my information about you Arrow, only goes as far as your exploits. As it stands my resources are better than yours and when it comes down to it, if I have the chance to get my hands on the intel before you, I will.”_

“So I guess we’re at a stalemate.”

Nothing, just silence. Wondering if the somber tone their conversation had taken had driven her away. Bart motioned Oliver out the room, reminding him of their mission, but somehow he couldn’t focus on it, grateful that the others were there to continue the search.

_“No...we’re not. Checkmate.”_

He stood there in confusion, not quite sure what she meant until Dinah’s voice came over the comm loudly.

_“He’s in the house. Impulse! Front entrance!”_

And then Bart was gone.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mission complete and went off without a hitch...somewhat. Chloe sighed and leaned back in her chair, counting down the seconds until Clark’s return. The entire time she waited, her conversation with the Green Arrow running through her head. He was searching for answers, of that much she was certain. Chloe wasn’t foolish; she had gotten through his firewalls too quickly. The Green Arrow’s team had a lot of resources. Technologically, they seemed just as advanced as she was. He too had someone running intel from behind the scenes. Although she had no confirmation yet, Chloe highly suspected the one that called himself Cyborg was in league with the Green Arrow. Included in that list were Speedy and Impulse. Their allegiance with the Green Arrow had been easy to determine.

Her hair blew around her neck, signaling the arrival of Clark.

“What the hell was that about?”

Chloe sighed and spun in her chair, standing up and walking towards the safe that Clark had dropped to the ground with a resounding thud. “I know it isn’t heavy to you, but it could probably crack the floor.”

“Chloe? The Green Arrow?”

“I was feeling him out.”

“Really?” Clark looked at her wide-eyed. “What happened to just listening in?”

“They caught me,” she said with a shrug and kneeled down. “Open this will you?”

“Caught you? They caught you. That’s saying a lot.” He walked around to the front of the safe, allowing Chloe to move out of the way before he grabbed the knob and pulled. When it yanked off he sighed. The same thing had happened with the last safe.

“I told you I thought they were working with Cyborg. He probably picked up on me.”

“And what?” Clark grabbed the side of the safe and pulled, opening up enough of a gap that he could slip his hand between it and the door. Once he had a hold of the door he pull, snapping it easily off its hinges. After dropping it to the ground he stood up and turned to her. “You decided to have a conversation with him?”

“I wanted to feel him out, Clark, see how much he knew. It’s never a bad idea to get more intel.”

“Oh really?” Clark asked knowingly, wondering if that had been her only reason in responding. He had heard the conversation and he knew Chloe. She had been amused.  Something in her conversation with the Emerald Archer had sparked her interest.

Stepping forward to the safe Chloe turned to Clark, eyebrow cocked at his challenge. “We now know that Batman saw you, that the communication between Batman and Green Arrow is stronger than I suspected. The Green Arrow’s real life personality is a cocky flirt and most likely a womanizer. He doesn’t trust easily, he’s pretty smart, good at planning, and is leading this team. I’ve practically confirmed that Cyborg is working with them and that their technological capabilities are most likely as good as ours. With more time Cyborg might have been able to crack my firewalls and access our comm signal too. The only reason I was able to was because I had planned ahead unlike him having to at the last minute and I had the element of surprise.”

“You got all of that?” Clark asked, almost skeptically.

“Yes,” she responded simply and turned away from him to kneel down in front of the safe.

“This isn’t like you. Just exposing yourself so easily.”

“So what. They have my voice on tape. Even if they have the resources to try to search they’ll find nothing, because there is nothing to find. I’m gone, don’t exist.”

“Okay, let’s turn this around then. They’ll know you don’t exist, they’ll know you have resources just as equally compatible to theirs.” She pulled something out of the safe and stood up, turning to him. “You practically confirmed that it is two of us working together and it isn’t much of a stretch for them to assume it may be Superman that’s working with you. Then the next thing I know I have them hunting me down.”

“Figured all that out on your own did you?” Chloe said with smirk. “I’m so proud.”

“Chloe...”

“Look Clark, I’m not worried. Even if they are quick enough to find out who you are so what? If anything it will confirm that we are the good guys. If Superman is doing it, well then it must be the right thing.” With a wink she stepped away from the safe and headed back towards her computers. “Dispose of that, will you Clark?” Stopping mid stride as a stray thought came to her she turned to face him with confusion. “What did you do with the other two?”

He held up a hand, pointing up.

“Oh!” She exclaimed and nodded, slightly impressed. “Good idea.” Turning away from him she took a seat in front of her monitors and plugged into the hard drive.

“Chloe, Superman doesn’t steal. Which is the idea behind me doing this in the old black costume.”

“Stop talking about yourself in the third person Clark. Having all these identities has made you crazy.” Her tone was light hearted, but then she saw the encrypted information fly across her screen. “Damn.”

“Not it?” He asked, forgetting about their disagreement and coming to stand behind her.

“No. Just more encrypted information. I can’t believe I can’t crack this. If our source is right, the key is out there.” Even as she said it she had to wonder. Chloe was devoting a whole lot of resources to something she wasn’t even sure was worth it. For all she knew someone could be leading her on a chase with no end, the only means to draw her attention away from something else. Not only that, they were exposing themselves. Chloe much preferred to work in the background, keep their team hidden. Now things were starting to change. Batman was aware of another player now, and worst of all the Green Arrow was aware of her. The precautions were in place to protect her identity, but they had resources, and lot’s of them. How the Green Arrow’s team was funded she wasn’t sure, but it was funded well.

“Hey.”

Chloe turned at the sound of Clark’s voice, her train of thought faltering. “Yea, sorry.”

“I’ve gotta get going. Some of us have a nine to five job the next day.” Chloe only nodded in response, barely seeming to register what he said. “Let me know what you come up with. But Chloe, I think if we run into someone again searching for this thing...we are going to have some problems.”

“Yea I know.” With a sigh she shook her head and smiled brightly. “You do the leg work Clark, save the world, let me worry about the logistics. I’ll take care of it, don’t worry.”

He smiled at her self assured attitude, and then pushed off the ground.

With a sigh of irritation Chloe readjusted her hair from the gust of wind.


	4. Invisible Heart 3/?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's invisible, a ghost, untraceable...but he sees her. AU

ews. I haven't been able to respond to any, but I promise I'll be much better this time around.

Oliver threw himself into the leather chair. As his body relaxed he moved his head from side to side, neck cracking loud enough for Victor to give him a slightly disgusted look.

“Whatever,” Oliver said with a roll of his eyes and spun the chair, facing his laptop. There were e-mail to catch home, work that had to be done, but for the life of him he couldn’t find the will to do it. Instead he opted for staring out the window of the jet, waiting to see the outside scenery begin to move.

Wind blew through his hair and then he heart a loud noise at his side. Without turning he glanced out of the corner of his eye to see Bart sitting next to him, turning in the adjoining chair to stare at him. There was something on his mind, that much was obvious, but Oliver could care less. So he stared ahead, waiting, knowing eventually that Bart wouldn’t be able to handle being ignored.

“Okay, so be that way,” Bart said petulantly. “So,” Bart nodded towards Oliver, “what was that about?”

Interest finally peaked, Oliver rolled his head on the back of the chair and gave Bart a lazy glance. “What are you talking about?”

“The hero version of ‘mines bigger then yours’.” When Oliver cocked an eyebrow questioningly Bart groaned, throwing his hands in the air. “Come on! Why do you get to have the conversation with the sexy voice with questionable motives. You get to have all the fun!”

“Jeez Bart.” Oliver turned away and focused outside the window again.

“Oh come on. I mean you get the woman everywhere you go.”

With a shake of his head he turned his head again. The engines had fired up. Any moment they would be heading home.

“He’s right Oliver.”

The new voice gave Oliver reason to pause. Slowly, he was coming to the realization that his team was questioning his motives. Taking the situation a little more seriously he turned his chair and surveyed the scene before him. “I didn’t see a problem.” Oliver knew Dinah well enough to know that her silence, the look on her face, meant she was carefully considering her next words. They’re truce was a shaky one, easily shaken by their own words.

“You’re conversation, it had the potential to expose us, not just you.”

He could see that she was making a great effort to keep the bite our of her tone, not wanting to cross that line that might make him defensive. In turn he bit back any retort. He was already on the defensive. Bart and Dinah standing to his left, Victor with his head cocked, away from his computer screen, watching, and Mia, sprawled on her stomach on the sofa, watching with interest. Turning back to Dinah he decided she was probably the main person he needed to confront. “We’re always at risk to be exposed. Even more so when we don’t know what we’re up against.”

“And letting some stranger in? Someone who could possibly be out to get us.”

There it was, the snap in her tone he had always been so accustomed to. Oliver wasn’t going to admit that he had a feeling that the voice on the other end, the blur, weren’t the real bad guys. That statement alone would have sent Dinah into a fit, but he still wouldn’t back down.

“It was a dangerous move, but it was necessary. Do we really want to be out in the open next time, wondering if this same person is out there, with now clue as to who and what they are?”

“They have money.”

Oliver turned at the voice, surprised to hear Mia speak up.

Pushing off the sofa she sat up. “Victor said as much himself. That woman, she got through a lot quicker then he thought. They were one step ahead of ‘old baty’. Our team’s funded through Queen Industries, him through Wayne Enterprises. They’re resources are good.” Turning to Victor Mia looked at him pointedly, telling him with her eyes that he better back her up. “Right? So where is their funding coming from?”

With a sigh Victor sat back into his chair, ignoring his work. “This isn’t just your everyday hacker. We have better protection then the FBI, CIA, Secret Service...you get the point. And I don’t think it’s government, this operation was small.”

Oliver nodded, it was something he had already suspected. It wasn’t much to go on, but he had time and Oliver was very persistent. With more information they might just have a lead. “And her voice.”

“I’ve already thought of that,” Victor admitted. “I’m searching now, but haven’t had much luck. When we get back home I’m going to go a bit more in depth with my search, but...” Victor shook his head.

Noting the silence Bart frowned. “What?! Don’t keep me out of the loop!”

“I don’t have to much faith that we will find anything.”

Oliver frowned, agreeing reluctantly. It had been his original hope that her voice would give them some kind of lead, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized she was careful, and she wouldn’t have left herself so exposed if she hadn’t been confident that they would find nothing. “She said you can’t find anything that doesn’t exist.”

Victor nodded in agreement, remembering her words and even replaying the conversation back.

“And what about what she knows,” Dinah challenged. “She knew about Bart. In fact, she seemed to be pretty knowledgable about the extent of his abilities.”

“No offense, but Lex Luthor knew the extent of Bart’s abilities. It isn’t a stretch to consider someone else knowing them also.”

“And how much else do they know about us Oliver? Because it is very apparent we know nothing about them.” Crossing her arms over her chest Dinah stared pointedly at Oliver, waiting for him to deny the obvious.

Unfortunately, she was right. Oliver wasn’t aware of any other teams working together, but someone was aware of them, and doing their damnedest to keep themselves hidden. “Look, I get it. Your upset. But I don’t think there was anything we could have done to keep her from breaking into our comms. Next time we will take additional precautions. But the fact is, whoever this person is...they are are stealing our targets right from beneath us. We need to know why and find out who they are.” Turning to Victor, Oliver continued. “Let me know if you find anything.” With that he turned away, making it quite obvious that the discussion was over.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mia noticed the far off look in Oliver’s eyes as he ate. Grabbing another roll with her chopsticks she popped it into her mouth and chewed, watching him thoughtfully. With a final swallow she grabbed her drink and took a quick sip before setting it down. “What’s up?”

Looking up sharply, almost startled, Oliver looked at Mia. “Huh?”

“You, since we got back you’ve been somewhere else. You have something on your mind, what is it?”

Quickly, Oliver shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

Rolling her eyes, Mia set her chopsticks down. “Oliver, your boring dinner company. Spill it or get over it.”

For a moment he considered pushing his thoughts to the side, trying to hold a normal conversation, but it would have been difficult. “Did I put the team in danger.”

Mia resisted the urge to groan, realizing it was going to be one of those conversations. “There could have been problems.” He frowned. “But there weren’t,” she quickly amended.

“There still could be.”

“Yea, but...” Mia trailed off slightly, trying to find the best way to reassure him. “I trust you Oliver. If you really thought we would have been in danger you would have done things differently.” Even at her words he still didn’t seem convinced. “I don’t know how it is for the rest of them. But I do trust you and whatever decision you make wherever you go, I’ll follow.”

Slowly he smiled. “I’m not always right.”

“Trust me, I know that. But you’re our leader, you saved me. There isn’t a person in this world I trust more.”

At her words his heart clenched and for a moment his eyes burned with emotion. His relationship with Mia was like no other. The best description he had was a father/daughter relationship. Although when he considered being a father what he imagined was slightly different from what he had with Mia. While she was more then capable of taking care of herself, she still needed him.  He worried about her, but he hadn’t objected to her joining him and the team. “And Dinah?”

Mia didn’t try to hide her frown. “Oil and water Ollie, I told you that before.”

“It was my fault,” he responded.

“Not denying it.” Mia shrugged. “I just figure it would have ended eventually, one way or another.”

Oliver sighed, not denying or confirming it. Snagging a piece of sushi he popped it into his mouth.

Rolling her eyes Mia decided to delve a little further. “Oliver come on, it was almost two years ago.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t still have feelings for her.”

At his words and hearing the longing in his voice Mia scrunched her face and thought better of continuing the conversation. The last thing she wanted to hear about was Oliver’s unrequited feelings for Dinah. “Okay, so what about-.” Before she could finish her question an electronic ding interrupted her and Oliver’s head whipped around. Within seconds he was up and heading back to the living room. Interest piqued, Mia stood and followed behind him, dinner forgotten. When she found him he was behind his desk, hand propped on the side and leaning over with a frown. “What’s up?”

“I-.” The sound of his cell ringing silenced him and he reached into his pocket already guessing who it was. Without thinking he pressed answer. “Yea.”

Mia watched the exchange with interest as she walked slowly to the sofa and took a seat. Slowly, Oliver’s brow drew together and his lips pursed into a frown.

“And that was it? I mean we don’t have any other avenues to take? We’re at a dead end?”

Mia watched him listen in silence and then sigh.

“Alright, yea. Well lets talk about it again tomorrow. She’s not a ghost.”

Slowly, the pieces came together for Mia; the unknown woman, the one who was causing the current conflict within their team. As he said goodbye, Mia waited, knowing eventually he would explain. “What is it?”

Rubbing his forehead in irritation Oliver walked from around his desk and took a seat on the sofa. “Victor. He hit a dead end with our new friend. At least with voice recognition. The search isn’t over by any means, but for right now... Tomorrow we’re going to get together and try to see what our other options are.”

Mia couldn’t help but frown herself. “It’s weird isn’t it? I mean she knew you wouldn’t be able to find her. If she thought you had a chance she wouldn’t have said a word. Why is she so confident?”

It was a good question, one Oliver had been thinking over for a long time. “I don’t know.” With a shake of his head he sighed and tried to focus on something else. “The more immediate problem is making sure this doesn’t happen again. As much as I would love to know more about the mysterious woman, we need to make sure she can’t hack us again.”

“How DID she hack us Oliver?” He turned to her, but she wasn’t quite sure what it was she saw on his face. “I mean you have money and technology at your fingertips. Victor, is a freaking computer. What does she have that we don’t?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How long?”

“Two minutes.” Chloe clicked her phone on silent and looked up into the screen. “Make it quick.”

“You acquired another?”

Sighing Chloe nodded. “But it could have been a rock for all it was worth.”

“There is a key.”

“You don’t think I know that?” Chloe snapped. “We’re working on it. I’m bringing more people in. This is getting a little to dangerous for our out of town friend.”

Tess narrowed her eyes. “I know that. But the packages are delicate. He is our best chance.”

“Exposing him as a thief would have consequences,” Chloe argued. “I’m bringing in someone else. As it is he’s had a run in with the Green Arrow and Batman...who would appear have been in contact with one another.”

At the familiar names Tess frowned. “I see.”

“And I’m going to be upgrading. Some of our new friends appear to be on an even playing field with us.”

Tess nodded. “I’ll take care of it.” Pausing for a moment she continued. “And other things?”

Their conversation were usually very vague, but at the end Tess always asked about her. “Safe.”

Tess nodded briefly. “Contact me when you have the other package.”

Tess’ image disappeared, leaving Chloe to the silence of her tower once again. Grabbing her bluetooth headset she slid it onto her ear and reached for her phone, scrolling through a variety of contacts. Finding who she needed she pressed her thumb against the screen and stood, walking towards the door and grabbing her coat.

“Hello?”

“Carter,” Chloe slammed her palm against the doors and headed towards the elevator, “what would it take to convince you to come in for a visit?”

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